UEFA holds first meeting under new president

European soccer governing body UEFA held its first executive committee meeting under the reigns of its new president, Aleksander Ceferin, on Thursday in Athens.

Ceferin, a little-known Slovenian soccer official, was elected on Wednesday (September 14) at a UEFA congress in the Greek capital.

The 48-year-old will replace disgraced Frenchman Michel Platini after comfortably beating experienced Dutch football administrator Michael van Praag by 42 votes to 13.

Ceferin said his first task would be tackling widespread dissatisfaction at controversial changes to the Champions League agreed between UEFA and the European Club Association, which has 220 members from 53 FAs, in favour of the big clubs.

UEFA increased the number of places allocated to clubs from Spain, England, Germany and Italy in the lucrative group stage and cut the slots for the smaller countries. The move came amid threats that the big clubs could form a breakaway Super League.

Ceferin, who has crossed the Sahara desert four times by car and once on a motorbike, was elected president of Slovenia’s football federation in 2011 but was not internationally known until he announced he intended to stand in June.